Archive 2019 · Preserving old photographs - suggestions

jamiepringle
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Preserving old photographs - suggestions

I am new to this forum, and not sure this is the appropriate submission here, but I thought this was the most likely forum to get some expert advice. I am the keeper of family photos, many of which go back to the early 1860’s. This photograph is my grandmother when she was quite young, my guess it was taken in the late 1890’s. My question is, when converting a print to a digital file, and dealing with all the ravages that befall a photograph in that time, what is the right approach/technique? This is one of my first attempts and I am torn between the original as art, the effect of time on the paper, and the final product. I like the final product to do away with obvious damage, but I want time to show through. What suggestions does anyone have as how to proceed with future projects as far as technique and approach?

Mar 23, 2019 at 10:54 AM

PhilPDX
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Preserving old photographs - suggestions

Hi

Depends what you want to do with the photos. If you just archive them, then keeping the original tear and wear in the scan has no impact. You can always remove it at a later time. If you want to use these images for genealogical purposes -- say, creating a photo book full of historic images and documents for yourself and your family -- then retouching would make a lot of sense. It's very time consuming, though, as you might have found out by now.

I've been researching my family history for over 20 years already, and what turned out to be the most important thing after preserving a photo is, to find out when and where it was taken and who is on it. This information is the first that gets lost over time.

Beautiful image, by the way. Just a little dark for my personal taste. Looking at the clothing and the hair style, I would guess that it was taken in the 1910s.

-Phil

Mar 23, 2019 at 11:50 AM

GoodEgg
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Preserving old photographs - suggestions

Jamie, not to hijack nor derail this thread, but I find the out-of-focus matt to be distracting. It can always be blurred later but it's too fuzzy to refocus (maybe software of the future...). As far as sharing and/or reprinting, since the style or technology of the time dictated a huge vignette, I get rid of the matt and create new background. If you are keeping the matt because of the signature, you could extract it and place it on the new background. Example of what I've done with my family photos: https://www.flickr.com/gp/19706785@N02/7o1rMc

Mar 23, 2019 at 04:51 PM

bflood
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Preserving old photographs - suggestions

I agree with Phil and Mr Egg (can I call you Good?), but I have another idea to share. Once you have scanned the photos, save them in a folder/directory as originals, never to be altered. When you edit an image to repair the effects of age, store the edited images elsewhere - don't overwrite the originals. You may find that, at some point in the future, you'll want to share a photo in the original condition when you scanned it, plus you may find (I think it's likely, actually) that your skill at repairing the old images will improve as you do more and more, and having the original images will allow you to repeat a repair on one of your earlier attempts to get a better result.

Mar 23, 2019 at 06:25 PM

jamiepringle
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Preserving old photographs - suggestions

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Good suggestion on the matting, although this is all one piece of paper with no matting. The original is highly stained and aged. I guess this is how they presented the image back then. Phil, the date is closer to 1910 than I said, because I looked up her birth date and it was 1888. Bflood, I shot these with a dslr and keep nef files as well as ones that I have processed. The purpose is to save the family history as digital files and then to pass them around to everyone. Many of the photos are creased, torn, and missing parts. I viewed this image with fondness I had for my grandmother. The process of making it more presentable was a steep learning curve and as Phil said, very time consuming. I also agree that its too dark as presented.

Mar 23, 2019 at 07:05 PM

Sauseschritt
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Preserving old photographs - suggestions

In the old days there was a movement among portrait photographers to make portraits too dark because they did want to avoid overblown highlights at all cost. Yousuf Karsh's photography teacher, I forgotten the name, was among them. Yousuf Karsh himself did obviously no longer follow this school of thought.

Such an attitude of course costs you image quality.

Mar 24, 2019 at 10:25 AM

Danpbphoto
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Preserving old photographs - suggestions

I too have dealt with many, many of my wife's great great grandparents family photos. First I find your post very well done. Dust removal and scratches/tears are a must to be removed.

There are things that might make this more modern but you must ask yourself, Is that what I want to do or to preserve the "oldness" look to the image? Yes there are subtle post processing tools that might make this a more proper photo to view. Maybe some noise reduction? Brighten the darkest portions of the image?
I suggest play with it. See what impresses you while not exaggerating the original image.

Again, seek opinions and then play with them. I still think this is a wonderful photo and a beautiful woman forever immortal!
Dan

Mar 27, 2019 at 09:21 AM


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